Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD)

May 01, 2018

Introduction

In 2015, the Israeli entity “Israeli Committee against House Demolitions” was closed due to a court order following the NGO’s failure to comply with multiple regulations.

The NGO continues to operate with “chapters” in the UK, Finland, USA, and Germany, but without a formal Israeli association. Since July 2015, the organization’s website has been published by the British branch.

Between 2010-2012, ICAHD received €169,661 from the European Union, via EIDHR, for a program “To ensure that the basic rights of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and Areas B and C of the OPT are met; To contribute to the cessation of punitive, military and administrative house demolitions in East Jerusalem and Areas B and C of the OPT.”

ICAHD offers “Alternative Tours of Palestine/Israel” allowing participants a “grounded approach to the politics of Occupation, and an insight into the difficulties of Palestinian life.” Topics covered on the tours include “systematic arrests,” “continued expropriation of land,” “the threat of forced displacement,” and “house demolitions.”

In May 2018, Amnesty International hosted ICAHD-UK’s annual conference titled “From constructing homes to constructing one-state,” supporting a “one-state solution,” meaning the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. The conference stated that “Palestinians liv[e] under a brutal military occupation that traumatized their society” and called to “start actively campaigning for one-state.”

On May 28, 2016, Amnesty International hostedICAHD-UK’s Spring Conference. One of the main goals of the conference was to “CONNECT current BDS campaigns in the UK with those in I/P [Israel/Palestine.]”

BDS

According to ICAHD’s website, “The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) was the first Israeli organisation to endorse a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.”

ICAHD supports BDS as an “instrument of Palestinian liberation” and “ending Israel’s occupation and colonization of all Arab lands.”

On May 28, 2016, Jeff Halper spoke at the ICAHD UK conference about the theme “’BDS for BDS’ (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for a Bi-National, Democratic State),” and how “apartheid cannot be accepted by any of us, not even by the most fervent supporter of Israel.”

In May 2016, ICAHD Germany and ICAHD Finland signed a call titled “Enough with the criminalisation of the BDS movement for justice in Palestine! Let’s support right to boycott!” calling on the European Commission to “introduce the human rights guidelines guaranteeing freedom of speech and right to boycott.”

In April 2016, ICAHD signed a letter to Congressmen and constitutional magistrates of Colombia calling to “stop the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and Israel,” as “Israel has systematically and gravely violated UN resolutions and international humanitarian laws relevant to human rights, undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination…The ratification of the Israel-Colombia FTA would give legitimacy to this illegal situation.”

In an interview with the Halifax Media Co-op (“Next Level #BDS,” February 2, 2015), Halper discusses security training and cooperation between Israel and Canada as a target for BDS, claiming that “The erosion of civil liberties in Canada, freedom of speech, is directly linked to the Israel-Palestine conflict” and “There’s a direct connection between the freedoms of Palestinians and the freedom of Canadians. I think that should be a thread in the BDS movement.”

In 2014, ICAHD applauded the decision of the “Presbyterian Church USA to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola, three US companies that profit from Israel’s military occupation.”

In 2014, Jeff Halper signed a petition titled “Jews Say: End the War on Gaza — No Aid to Apartheid Israel! BDS!” “embrac[ing] the 2005 Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions,” as well as legitimizing Palestinian resistance stating, “Like any colonial regime, Israel uses resistance to such policies as an excuse to terrorize and collectively punish the indigenous population for its very existence. But scattered rockets, fired from Gaza into land stolen from Palestinians in the first place, are merely a response to this systemic injustice.”

ICAHD joined a group of Israeli NGOs in writing a letter (2009) to the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, as a part of Coalition of Women for Peace’s “Who Profits?” campaign, accusing a number of Israeli and international corporations of “provid[ing] specifically designed equipment for the surveillance and repression of Palestinian population through restrictions of movement and collective punishments.”

In 2005, ICAHD released a press release titled “Sanctions Against The Israeli Occupation: It’s Time,” calling on the “international community – civil society as well as governments – to do all that is possible to bring a swift end to Israel’s terrible Occupation…The time has come; sanctions seem the next logical step in a global campaign to end the Occupation.”

Planning a summer 2017 “Rebuilding Camp,” inviting international students to “strengthen [their] involvement in the global movement to end home demolitions” and “rebuild a Palestinian home that was demolished by Israeli authorities.”

On November 20, 2014, Alternatives Canadapublished an article by Jeff Halper alleging that “Israelis and Palestinians liv[e] under separate legal systems, the latter do not have any legal protection… By disconnecting laws and justice, and by allowing the government to violate with impunity international law, the Israeli legal system has become an instrument of oppression.”

ICAHD employee and Jerusalem Council member Meir Margalit published a book (published 2010), funded by the Spanish government, titled, Seizing Control of Space in East Jerusalem. Margalit accuses Israel of “ethnocratic policy of contempt for Arabs,” attempting to “wipe the Arab presence off the face of the earth,” and “colonialism.”

Staff

Jeff Halper

Jeff Halper, co-founder and former director of ICAHD, has said (2008): “I think it is impossible to have a Jewish state” and that that a bi-national state is the only remaining option resulting from Israel’s “futile attempt to impose an apartheid regime.”

In 2014, Halper signed a petition titled “Jews Say: End the War on Gaza — No Aid to Apartheid Israel! BDS!” stating, “Like any colonial regime, Israel uses resistance to such policies as an excuse to terrorize and collectively punish the indigenous population for its very existence. But scattered rockets, fired from Gaza into land stolen from Palestinians in the first place, are merely a response to this systemic injustice.”

In a July 11, 2014 article in Mondoweiss (“Israel’s message to the Palestinians: Submit, leave or die”), Halper alleges that “[Israel’s military operations in Gaza] represent the imposition of a regime of warehousing, of outright imprisonment of an entire people…Warehousing is worse than apartheid…it is a form of cultural genocide that can lead to worse. This is what Israel has left the Palestinians…”

In 2015, Jantti blamed Israel for antisemitism, and tacitly compared Israel to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations, stating “When those who are responsible for acts of brutality and crimes against humanity (think of tactics employed by the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda) or occupation-powered apartheid (the self-appointed Jewish state) claim they represent an entire religion or ethnic grouping, there will be those who believe them.”

He also published an article (August 29, 2014) in Al-Jazeera urging the EU to impose sanctions on Israel.

ICAHD-Finland’s chairman Syksy Räsänen maintains a blog that often includes propaganda and inflammatory rhetoric attacking the democratically elected Israeli government and its policies.

In 2014, Räsänen accused Israel of using the term “human shields” in order to excuse civilian casualties, citing the discredited Goldstone report several times as evidence.

In March 2018, to make Israeli Apartheid Week and commemorate “70 years since the ethnic cleansing of Palestine,” ICAHD-Finland hosted Israeli journalist David Sheen, who has “covered Israeli racism for many years.”

In March 2018, Sheen tweeted a cartoon repeating the antisemitic blood libel that Jews use blood to bake Passover matzah.

In March 2015, ICAHD-Finland actively participated in Israel Apartheid Week, focusing on “pinkwashing” – a term used by activists in order to claim that Israel’s treatment of the LGBT community is merely a propaganda tactic to divert attention from Israel’s relationship with Palestinians.

In December 2014, ICAHD-Finland ran a project for “homes demolished by the Israeli authorities as a form of political protest against Israel’s Occupation.” ICAHD-Finland demonizes Israel with accusations of “collective punishment against innocent Palestinians who live under occupation” and of “flagrant violation of the 4th Geneva Convention.” (emphasis in original)

During the summer 2014 Gaza conflict, ICAHD Finland participated in seven anti-Israel demonstrations in Helsinki, which focused on demanding an end to arms trade between the countries.

Published a December 2013 report, “Straight route to the occupation,” promoting a boycott of the company Veolia and contributing to a proposed motion at the Helsinki city council not to renew Veolia contracts.

On August 29, 2017, Joseph Schechla, HIC coordinator of the Housing and Land Rights Network, wrote an article on the “Anatomy of ISIL in the Middle East,” discussing how “the ISIL phenomenon ironically has its roots in deep anomalies and double standards of the interstate system itself. This is only symbolically reflected in the contemporary acronym of ISIL, which corresponds with the abbreviation for the so-called ‘Islamic state’ (IS) joined to the binomial code for the State of Israel (IL). This coincidence of acronyms completes the analogy of the respective Jihadist and Zionist movements and their common attributes at the expense of indigenous Middle East peoples. Just as one follows the other in time, the participants in the former-named (IS) may be counting on the same seamless impunity long enjoyed by its latter-cited predecessor (IL).”

In advance of Israeli Independence Day, NGO Monitor has examined the roles of three Israeli NGOs that actively promote a "one-state" framework, which would mean the eradication of Israel as a Jewish state.

ICAHD has received funding from the EU since at least 2000. Executive director is Jeff Halper. He has rejected the concept of a "Jewish state" and has labelled the two-state solution "unacceptable." Partners with radical Sabeel. Promotes the Durban Strategy through demonization, support of boycotts, and lobbying against improved Israel-EU relations.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) claims to be a non-violent, direct-action group to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories. A recipient of EU funding, ICAHD partners with radical NGOs such as Sabeel, Christian Aid, and LAW to campaign against the two-state solution, promote the Durban Strategy of boycotts and demonizing Israel, using terms such as "apartheid", and grossly distorting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.